I know I'm like 4 years late on this but I just played through and beat Assassin's Creed 2. Much better than the original because of the customization and better side missions. The graphics and gameplay in Italy was pretty dope too.

My only big complaint is that fighting was way too easy. I took down the final boss Rodrigo Borgia without him even touching me. Hopefully Brotherhood improves the series a bit more. I'm interested to see if the multiplayer is any good (or if anyone is still playing it lol).